In their 10th-straight playoff appearance, the Portland football team earned their first district championship Friday night by defeating Olivet by a score of 36-0.

After a slow start on offense, the Raiders got going in the second, building a 29-0 halftime lead.

We are happy for our kids. They have been working hard for this for a long time, Raider coach John Novara said. "I am also happy for our program. We had a lot of kids over a lot of years put in a lot of time and effort and never got to lift that trophy.

"These guys finally got a chance to do that."

The Portland defense stymied the Eagle offense right from the start of the game, but were unable to build the lead as they struggled to move the ball themselves on offense.

However, in the second, the Raiders finally hit on a few big plays and took advantage of some Olivet penalties as they finally started getting the ball into the end zone. The biggest play of the quarter was an 82-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tanner Allison to receiver Auston Brandt.

"Our kids worked hard," Novara said. "We were a little nervous to start the game, and once we settled down, we started playing really good football.

Allison paced the Portland ground attack with 57 yards rushing on five carries and scored a touchdown. He also completed four of eight passes for 168 yards, including a pair to Brandt for a total of 140 yards.

Jacob Kimmell picked up 53 yards on six attempts, while Sam Goodman carried the ball 10 times for 50 yards.

On defense, Portland dominated a potent Olivet offense, holding the Eagles to 101 total yards. They also shut down running back Nick Coolidge, who was one of the top runners in the area this season, holding the senior running back to six yards on 14 carries. Last week against Lansing Catholic, Coolidge finished with 287 yards on 25 attempts.

"We're fiery on defense and everybody is just running to the ball, Portland senior defensive end Dylan Carroll said. "It seems like there are 15 guys getting to the ball out there.

"This is great. We went through hard teams we faced seven playoff teams and we are playing very good this year. Us seniors needed it. I couldn't feel any better.

The Raider defense was led by Carroll, who earned eight tackles, three for loss, and recovered a fumble. Zachary Gustafson finished with eight tackles, including four stops for losses, and Randy Gensterblum intercepted a pass.

Portland (10-1) will travel to Flint next week to take on defending Division 5 state champion Powers Catholic.